March 29, 2024

Archives for November 2009

ICC looks at Kenya: Backgrounder on how we got here

Last week the ICC Prosecutor applied to open an investigation into the post-election violence in Kenya. The three judges of the Pre-Trial Chamber will decide whether or not to allow him to begin investigating, but as the ICC is a court of last resort, I thought it would be useful give a brief summary of […]

Katanga/Ngudjolo trial begins

With all the pre-trial questions about whether the ICC had the jurisdiction over Katanga now cleared up, the trial of DRC warlords, Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, has begun in The Hague this week. You can watch it through the court’s webstream. At yesterday’s opening, both Katanga and Ngudjolo plead not guilty to seven […]

Postscript: Abdalhaleem’s other function

After reading my previous post a Darfur advocate came back to me with a sound point that deserves incorporation. Namely that in addition to distorting the field in terms of U.S.-based advocacy asks, Abdalhaleem’s comments (and those of the same genre) serve another function – trial ballooning for, in particular, a regional audience. In other […]

Let’s not get played by the “Abdalhaleem tactic”

After the Secretary General’s Nov. 16 report hit the news headlines this week, Sudan Ambassador to the UN, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, told Reuters: “One big fact should be the focus of the report — that the war is over . . .With peace in sight, the U.N. should, in coordination with the African Union and Sudanese […]

Podcast: Restore SGBV services – same message, different medium

As part of the Voices on Genocide Prevention podcast series, I did this interview shortly after I got back from Darfur. It’s really just another forum through which to plug the same message – Services for survivors of sexual violence in Darfur must be restored.

Another vote for Doha, better than you might think

As people start getting back from Doha, the picture is taking on a rosier shine. This today from another person who was there til the end:  “. . everyone I know and trust . . .  said NCP was not even close to majority. There were NO non-Darfuri attending at all.” It’s quite a different […]

Who, exactly, represented Darfuris in Doha?

According to news reports, “around 170 civil groups from Darfur” were engaged in consultations in Doha last week. Having heard no real “buzz” about the first-ever, long-overdue, inclusion of Darfuri civil society in peace negotiations I was curious about who these 170 groups actually were. I remember the hype and excitement in the build up […]

Activists press U.S govt on supporting Darfuri survivors of rape

Readers of this blog know that the biggest takeaway for me from my time in Darfur this August/September was the impact that the post-ICC expulsions had on women, and in particular on survivors of rape. The women I spoke with were frustrated that the world writ-large seemed to have papered over this. While a joint […]

Negotiating the election

In the face of a threatened boycott of the 2010 elections by Sudan opposition parties, the Sudan Tribune has an interesting report on what U.S. envoy, Scott Gration, has said to his interlocutor in the Sudanese government, Ghazi Salah Al-Deen, during his current visit to Khartoum. I haven’t seen another source on this yet, but […]

The hand behind camp closure proposals – a desire for legitimacy

Today the Sudan Tribune reported that in a radio interview, Sudan’s Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, Hasabu Abdel-Rahman, said Khartoum plans to close the IDP camps in Darfur by early 2010. I have some perspective on this from recent interviews in Sudan. In short, no one will be surprised to hear my overwhelming perception is that the […]